Welcome…
JULY 2017
Illustration Joe Murtagh
Our fourth issue of Long Live Vinyl goes on sale on the very date that, 50 years ago, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released – a true lightning-bolt moment in the history of recorded music. Debate continues to rage, half a century later, over whether it was the pinnacle of The Beatles’ dizzying roll call of epochal studio achievements – an all-too-brief technicolour explosion of creativity that changed the musical landscape and popular culture forever. While some point to the genre-shifting genius of Revolver, or the consistent pop splendour of Rubber Soul, what’s not open for debate is the effect Pepper had on recorded music – legions of bands forever affected by its radical, game-changing approach, led by the incomparable George Martin. Our four collector’s-edition covers could justifiably have been five – Martin had a very real claim to being the fifth Beatle. Without his work on Pepper, there would have been no The Dark Side Of The Moon, no OK Computer – definitely no Definitely Maybe. His influence cannot be overstated, and Martin’s son Giles has done a remarkable job of revisiting this 50-year-old classic for a reissue that throws fresh light on arguably the world’s most important LP.